Let Go: Moment in Movement captures
the serendipitous photographic journey of James Starkman as he followed
a group of parkour practitioners (known as traceurs)
training in various urban environments in and around New York City.
Parkour (pronounced “par-core”), also known as l'art
du déplacement (the art of displacement)
or freerunning, is a physical discipline that originated in France;
parkour involves training to overcome any obstacle within
one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the
environment. What began for the artist as an exploration of the visual
elements of parkour movement deepened into a personal inquiry into the
emotional and spiritual resonance of the images he spontaneously caught
on film. The result is this arresting collection of
“moments” in movement, simultaneously revealing
aspects of both artist and subjects as they “let
go.” This is the artist’s first solo exhibition.

In both their technical and thematic concerns, the works comprising
this exhibition draw inspiration from varied sources, including the
Belgian surrealist René Magritte and his technique of
portraying ordinary objects in unfamiliar spaces to suggest new
meanings through poetic juxtapositions. Taken together, the pieces
demonstrate Starkman’s fascination with the nascent physical,
emotional and spiritual potentialities suggested by the interplay of
these elements and trace the unfolding of his discovery of unexpected
beauty.

At its core, Let Go: Moment in Movement is a visual meditation on the
rich metaphoric possibilities suggested by moments of framed kinetic
movement. As the traceurs bound over walls and dive down staircases,
they begin to redefine their relationship to their environment. As they
commit to action they let go. Obstacles become opportunities, fear
becomes surrender, and confinement becomes freedom ― not only for the
traceurs, but for the viewer entering the action. With these moments of
transformation, Starkman challenges us to examine our own physical and
emotional relationship to the images.